Changes

The Ohio Turnpike Commission continues to operate the James W. Shocknessey Ohio Turnpike. According to the commission, its goal is, "To operate and maintain a user-fee supported highway with sound financial management that provides motorists and travelers with safe, modern and helpful services." Near the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Ohio Turnpike Commission sought to improve safety and alleviate congestion on the turnpike. The commission has begun to add a third lane in each direction between Toledo and Youngstown. It also has begun to modernize service plazas along the route. One of the Ohio Turnpike Commission's major accomplishments has been to keep the turnpike open in all types of weather. In a forty-year period, weather conditions have closed the turnpike for only seventy-seven hours.